Existing solutions rely on detecting and tracking the thermal signature of the missile, either from the propellant exhaust or the heating of the missile body.
When such methods rely on ultraviolet radiation, they can only detect and track the missile while the motor is in operation. This is a limiting capability with missiles that “burn-out” long before impact.
When such methods rely on infrared radiation, they can track both missile exhaust and body heating. However, there is an enormous amount of infrared clutter in most background scenes. This clutter places significant limitations on the ability to detect and track missiles using passive infrared radiation.
A need exists for a missile detection system and method that can accurately detect missiles even in a cluttered environment. The system and method should preferably be able to detect the location of missile. Moreover, the system and method should preferably be able to detect a missile prior to launch, not simply while in-flight.
Optical Augmentation is a recognized approach to detecting optical systems in a scene. The conventional method relies on the dramatically increased apparent cross section of an optical system when the source of illumination and detection are in the field of view of the optical system being sought.
This is the phenomenon responsible for the glow of cat's eyes at night and the red-eye apparent in photographic subjects when a direct flash is used.
A second less familiar phenomenon is the brevity of the impulse response of such an optical system. Because the incoming light is reflected off a single point in the focal plane, an incoming impulse of light is retro-reflected with small fractions of a nanosecond of response time. Virtually all other objects in the scene will have a much longer impulse response making the optics “stand-out” in time.
The combination of these two phenomena can be used to implement a very effective approach to electro-optic missile warning.